Choose to love yourself in the new year

As people across the world greet Baby New Year, advertisements for gyms and diets appear almost by magic.

Magazines and billboards, radio and television all scream “New Year, New You!” and insist that we need to alter some fundamentally incorrect aspect of our bodies. Every single year, I disagree.

In my 20 years, I’ve had my fair share of self-loathing and insecurities. I’ve lost 25 pounds just to gain it right back. I’ve hated my butt, my thighs, my stomach and my arms. I’ve pinched and prodded the skin, praying for the power to pull it right off my skeleton. And I’m tired of it.

For the past three years, I’ve discarded those trite lose-those-last-15-pounds-and-look-hot-in-a-bikini resolutions. Instead, my New Year’s resolution is to accept and love my body for what it is.

When you think about it, our bodies are capable of incredible feats.

They constantly inhale oxygen and pump blood through our veins. They fight off viruses and bad bacteria. Some of our bodies have or will create a new person. And they do all of this despite the abuse we put them through on a daily basis.

After all that our bodies do for us, why should we spend our next 60 years hating them? No one should waste their life lamenting the body they wish they possessed.

Love it or hate it, your body is the only one you will ever have; why waste it?

Photo by geralt via pixelay.com

Does this mean that if you want to lose 10 or 15 pounds that you shouldn’t? Of course not!

However, I do want you to examine the reasons why weight loss is important to you. Who are you losing the weight for; will losing that weight help you love yourself?

People should exercise and eat healthy because it makes them feel good, not because they desire another body type.

Dance, lift weights, or swim because it makes you happy and ignore what everyone else says.

Self-love and body acceptance can happen at any weight, and a person who weighs 105 pounds can be just as unhealthy and unhappy as a person who weighs 205.

This year, reconsider your resolutions and make life changes that make you happy. The positive effects of practicing self-love will last much longer than that bikini will be in style.